2019 Research Innovation Fund (RIF) Request for Proposals

Dear colleagues,

We are contacting you to let you know that CIDA has a Research Innovation Fund (RIF) that will support seed grants involving faculty, postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students involved in Digital Ag-related research and spanning multiple disciplines and colleges.

We are pleased to report that we have increased funding opportunities for 2019, and as a result, the original submission deadline of January 15th, 2019 has been postponed.

There will now be two CIDA-sponsored calls for proposals:

Faculty and postdocs will be invited to apply for research seed grants, up to $75,000/year, for up to 3 years. The expected submission deadline will now be mid-April 2019.

In conjunction with a faculty advisor, graduate and undergraduate students will be invited to apply for a grant to cover their summer salary if working on a DA research project for Summer 2019. Applications will be due on February 15, 2019.

A detailed call for proposals (RFP) for both grant opportunities will be posted on the CIDA Website on January 25th. Please come back to this page for more details.

Please contact Tim Vanini, CIDA Business Development Officer, at tv37@cornell.edu with any comments or questions.

We will also send another email to announce the RFP, so stay tuned!

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The Cornell Initiative for Digital Agriculture (CIDA) is pursuing a vigorous research agenda for DA through a collection of powerful interdisciplinary collaborations that will transform agriculture and foster a pipeline of practical innovations. CIDA defines DA as a holistic, systems-level approach to agriculture that incorporates tools and devices for sensing and automating activities at a range of scales, and leverages information and computational technologies (ICT) in a systems analytics framework. DA affects all components of the food system and provides new methods and tools for delivering relevant, timely and targeted information and services to farmers, consumers and policy-makers to enhance the productivity, profitability and the social, economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture, enabling the delivery of safe, nutritious and affordable food for all.

The technologies that enable DA are multiple and varied. Genomics tools and breeding informatics accelerate research and development for genetic gain. Data storage and analytics enable vast amounts of data to be transformed into information. Mobile devices facilitate real-time data collection and information dissemination. Digital services promote rapid-cycle innovation. Geographic information systems and remote sensing provide spatial and temporal dimensions to real-time system data and information. The internet of things stitch together data sources and support delivery of timely information essential for decision making and coordination at a distance.

Cornell University, with outstanding faculty in agriculture and life sciences, social sciences and business, computing and information science, engineering, and veterinary medicine is exceptionally well positioned to advance the concepts and tools of digital agriculture. To foster the collaborations needed for such endeavors and to catalyze development of digital agriculture tools for New York and regions beyond, CIDA seeks proposals for projects that will advance digital agriculture.